My friend Lori Ann Bloomfield, of The Last River Child fame and author of that Elvis story I liked to a while back, is opening up the floodgates to reader questions over at her First Line blog. Got a burning question about writing, reading, or publishing? Go visit her blog and drop her a lineContinue reading “Ask an author: Lori Ann Bloomfield”
Category Archives: reading
11-11: Literary magazine review (Annalemma)
Part of my 11-11 reading list includes literary journals and magazines, and because I want to support them as much as I can (I rely on them for publications, after all!), I’ve decided to try to read at least one full issue of a different magazine each month. But it’s fairly difficult to do thatContinue reading “11-11: Literary magazine review (Annalemma)”
New publication(s)
Some publications news: I have two new stories in the March issue of Red Fez, “Still Alive” and “Dream with Enough Conviction.” You might recognize “Dream with Enough Conviction”: an earlier draft of it appeared here about ten months ago, as a Writer’s Notebook entry on music and fiction. And you might recognize Red Fez,Continue reading “New publication(s)”
Why Experts Are Not the Best Teachers (via Worst Professor Ever)
I’m not entirely sure what to make of this. On the one hand, I take issue with the author’s assertion that “knowing something at the PhD level benefits very few of your fellow citizens.” And the final comment, about “amateurs” being “cheaper to hire,” really gets under my skin, because one of my personal missionsContinue reading “Why Experts Are Not the Best Teachers (via Worst Professor Ever)”
Reading and writing: a beginning, and no end in sight!
Just wanted to quickly share two blog posts, which by happy accident I happened to read almost back to back today. The first is from Odds ‘N Ends (aka Mary’s Little Blog), in which a mother recounts helping her son learn to read and write. More importantly, the post focuses on the first time herContinue reading “Reading and writing: a beginning, and no end in sight!”
The Current History of the Future of Publishing: Margaret Atwood speaks at the Tools of Change conference
This is a phenomenal presentation — from Margaret Atwood! — on the changes taking place in the publishing industry… and why we shouldn’t freak out about it. My favorite bit is her definition of “publishing,” because the rest of this presentation stems from that one seminal idea, and it’s awesome. The video of her presentationContinue reading “The Current History of the Future of Publishing: Margaret Atwood speaks at the Tools of Change conference”
New fiction from Ryan Werner
Rock star and writer and guy-I-refer-to-a-lot-because-we-swap-ideas-on-writing-all-the-time Ryan Werner has a new story up at Jersey Devil Press. In the same vein as Ryan’s music-based flash fiction over at Our Band Could Be Your Lit, this story, “Carbon,” is based on a rock song, this time Bruce Springsteen‘s “Adam Raised a Cain.” It’s really cool. GoContinue reading “New fiction from Ryan Werner”
This librarian is totally hot
The good news abounds in the Snoek-Brown household this week: after my story announcement yesterday, today my wife, who is a (brilliant!) librarian, found out she’s online as well! A while ago, a freelance writer named Meredith Southard contacted my wife and asked to interview her for a short article on the librarian profession (because,Continue reading “This librarian is totally hot”
11-11: Aussie fiction review (Tim Winton)
I recently finished the first Aussie novel I’ve ever read, Tim Winton‘s Breath. Though it works within a frame of a middle-aged paramedic recalling his life, it’s mostly a Bildungsroman centered on extreme surfing in the `70s. Lots of hip, daring people chasing down hip, daring dreams as a means of self-discovery. But it’s farContinue reading “11-11: Aussie fiction review (Tim Winton)”
How textbooks are becoming cool
A few years ago, when all this technology was still emerging, I wrote a short piece advocating a major revolution in the textbook industry: I called for the educational publishing industry to replace print texts with e-textbooks. That piece became part of a chapter in a book on compassionate teaching that I’m writing, but itContinue reading “How textbooks are becoming cool”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 